Symposium on Environmental Protection and Ecology in Developing Countries-Call for Action

The participants in the Symposium on Environmental Protection and Ecology in Develo-ping Countries, cosponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Federation of Asian Scientific Academies & Societies (FASAS), held in Beijing, China, on 1-4 November 1989.

The Theory of Soil and Water Ecology is the Common Theoretical Basis in the Field of Ecological Environment

From the perspective of system concept and practical needs,the field of ecological environment needs new theories that can grasp the whole and command the overall situation.Soil and water ecology is the holistic view of nature of seeing both macrocosm and microcosm,is the largest common divisor of various types of ecosystems on the earth and will effectively integrate all ecological processes related to human beings,animals and plants.Starting from the principle of soil and water ecology,the paper resolved that:①the essence of landscape,forest,field,lake,grass,sand and ice is soil and water ecology and;②the fundamental reason of the ecological and environmental crises of climate change,global warming and loss of biodiversity lies in the change and destruction of the earth’s soil and water ecology.The theory of soil and water ecology is a major scientific issue related to the fundamental and overall situation of the ecological environment,is the golden key to understand and solve contemporary ecological and environmental issues and is the common theoretical basis in the field of ecological environment.

Briefing of Symposium on Environmental Protection and Ecology in Developing Countries

The symposium on Environmental Protection and Ecology in Developing Countries, orga-nized and financed by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Federation of Asian Scientific Academics and Societies (FASTS) and supported by American Association for the Advance-ment of Science (AAAS) and the UNEP Regional representative has held on November 2-4 in Beijing, China.

Assessment on eco-environmental quality of the Yellow River Basin by considering desertification index

Desertification has had a significant impact on the ecological environment of the Yellow River Basin(YRB)in China.However,previous studies on the evaluation of the ecological environment quality(EEQ)in the YRB have paid limited attention to the indicator of desertification.It is of great significance to incorporate the desertification index into the spatiotemporal assessment of the EEQ in the YRB in order to protect the ecological environment in the region.In this study,based on multi-source remote sensing data from 91 cities in the YRB,this article proposes a desertification remote sensing ecological index(DRSEI)model,which builds upon the traditional Remote Sensing Ecological Index(RSEI)model,to analyze the spatiotemporal changes in the EEQ in the YRB from 2001 to 2021.Furthermore,using the geographic detector(GD),and geographically and temporally weighted regression(GTWR)model,the study assesses the impact of human and natural factors on the EEQ in the YRB.The research findings indicate that:(1)Compared to the traditional RSEI,the improved DRSEI shows a decreasing trend in the evaluation results of the EEQ.Among the 24 cities,the change in DRSEI exceeds 0.05 compared to RSEI,accounting for 26.37%of the YRB.The remaining 67 cities have changes within a range of less than 0.05,accounting for 73.63%of the YRB.(2)The results of the GD for individual and interactive effects reveal that rainfall and elevation have significant individual and interactive effects on the EEQ.Furthermore,after the interaction with natural factors,the explanatory power of human factors gradually increases over time.The spatial heterogeneity results of GTWR demonstrate that rainfall has a strong direct positive impact on the EEQ,accounting for 98.90%of the influence,while temperature exhibits a more pronounced direct inhibitory effect,accounting for 76.92%of the influence.Human activities have a strong negative impact on the EEQ and a weak positive impact.

Ecological environmental quality evaluation and driving factor analysis of the Lijiang River Basin,based on Google Earth Engine

For regional ecological management,it is important to evaluate the quality of ecosystems and analyze the underlying causes of ecological changes.Using the Google Earth Engine(GEE)platform,the remote sensing ecological index(RSEI)was calculated for the Lijiang River Basin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for 1991,2001,2011,and 2021.Spatial autocorrelation analysis was employed to investigate spatiotemporal variations in the ecological environmental quality of the Lijiang River Basin.Furthermore,geographic detectors were used to quantitatively analyze influencing factors and their interaction effects on ecological environmental quality.The results verified that:1)From 1991 to 2021,the ecological environmental quality of the Lijiang River Basin demonstrated significant improvement.The area with good and excellent ecological environmental quality in proportion increased by 19.69%(3406.57 km^(2)),while the area with fair and poor ecological environmental quality in proportion decreased by 10.76%(1860.36 km^(2)).2)Spatially,the ecological environmental quality of the Lijiang River Basin exhibited a pattern of low quality in the central region and high quality in the periphery.Specifically,poor ecological environmental quality characterized the Guilin urban area,Pingle County,and Lingchuan County.3)From 1991 to 2021,a significant positive spatial correlation was observed in ecological environmental quality of the Lijiang River Basin.Areas with high-high agglomeration were predominantly forests and grasslands,indicating good ecological environmental quality,whereas areas with low-low agglomeration were dominated by cultivated land and construction land,indicating poor ecological environmental quality.4)Annual average precipitation and temperature exerted the most significant influence on the ecological environmental quality of the basin,and their interactions with other factors had the great influence.This study aimed to enhance understanding of the evolution of the ecological environment in the Lijiang River Basin of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and provide scientific guidance for decision-making and management related to ecology in the region.

The coordinated evolution of ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt,using the Dual-Carbon Targets

Carbon peak and carbon neutrality(dual-carbon)are important targets for the international response to climate change.The Silk Road Economic Belt is a strategic resource region and is important for future ecological environment and tourism development.Based on the“dual-carbon”targets,the Single index quantification,Multiple index synthesis,and Poly-criteria integration evaluation model were used in this study to measure the coordinated development index of the ecological environment,public service,and tourism economy along the Silk Road Economic Belt and to analyze its spatial and temporal evolution.Further,it explores the dynamic evolution and development trend of the three systems using the Kernel Density and Grey Markov Prediction Model.The results show that the coordinated development index along this region needs to be improved during the study period.Furthermore,the coordinated development index of the Southwest region is relatively higher than that of the Northwest region.From the development trend of the three systems,all of them develop in a stable manner;however,the tourism economy system is easily affected by external disturbances.The coordinated development index of the three systems changes dynamically and tends to be in a good state of coordination.There is a certain spatial and temporal heterogeneity.The gravity center of the coordinated development index has been in the Southwest region.During the forecast period,the coordinated development index along this region will improve significantly,while insufficient and unbalanced development will continue.

Coupling coordination analysis of Mazu culture,socio-economy and ecological environment of Meizhou Island

Taking the pilgrimage,tourism and cultural island of Meizhou Island as an example,the evaluation index system of the coupling and coordinated development of“Mazu culture,socio-economy,eco-environment”(MSE)compound system was constructed.The index weights were determined by AHP-entropy method,and the coupling degree,coordinated degree,comprehensive evaluation index and grey correlation degree of MSE system of Mazu Island from 2012 to 2022 were measure.The results showed that:(1)the comprehensive evaluation indexes of the three subsystems was on the rise in general,but the evaluation index of the ecological subsystems increased relatively slowly.(2)The coupling degree was only in the running-in stage in 2012,and the other years were in the coordinated coupling stage.(3)The coupling coordination degree increased from 0.35 in 2012 to 0.82 in 2022,the coupling coordination level was changed from mild imbalance to good coordination.(4)Through the comparison of grey correlation degree,the 24 indexes in the evaluation index system had great influence on the coupling coordination degree of MSE system.The coupling coordination degree was closely related to the development of socio-economy and the spread of Mazu culture.With the rapid development of tourism brought about by the spread of Mazu culture,the pressure on the ecological environment will be increasing.Compared with the rapid growth of tourism and economy,it is equally important to strengthen environmental protection and pay attention to the quality of ecological environment development.

Groundwater and environmental challenges in Asia

Asia stands out as the most populous and geographically diverse region globally.The pressing issues of water resource development and the resulting ecological impacts are exacerbated by the region's rapid population growth and economic expansion.Groundwater,a vital source of water in Asia,faces significant disparities in distribution and suffers from unsustainable exploitation practices.This study applies groundwater system theory and categorizes Asia into 11 primary groundwater systems and 36 secondary ones,based on intercontinental geological structures,climate,terrain,and hydrogeological characteristics.As of the end of 2010,Asia's assessed groundwater resources totalled 4.677×10^(9) m^(3)/a,with exploitable resources amounting to 3.274×10^(9) m^(3)/a.By considering the geological environmental impacts of groundwater development and the distinctive characteristics of terrain and landforms,six categories of effect zones with varying distribution patterns are identified.The current research on Asia's groundwater resources,environmental dynamics,and human impacts aims to provide a theoretical foundation for sustainable groundwater management and environmental conservation in the region.

Countermeasures for Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Cope with Climate Change and Ecological Environment Safety

The monitoring,prediction and assessment of status about climate changes and ecological environment at home and abroad were discussed in this study,and the scientific significance and countermeasures for Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to cope with these problems were also put forward.

Relationship between Rice Cultural Diversity and Ecological Environment in Yunnan Province of China

[Objective] This paper aims to confirm that Yunnan is one origin center of rice and human in the world.[Method] The complicated and unique ecological environment in Yunnan makes Yunnan Province the largest center of genetic diversity and cultural diversity of rice and human being as well as the cradle of human childhood.[Result] The genetic diversity and cultural diversity of rice and human being is closely related to the ecosystem diversity.Rice civilization in Yunnan can be divided into four types,including the diversity center region of rice civilization in southwestern Yunnan,diffusion region of rice civilization of Hani-Zhuang in southern Yunnan,rice civilization region of water-drought rotation in central Yunnan and poverty region of rice civilization in northern Yunnan.Southwestern Yunnan is not only the center of genetic ecological diversity and rice cultural diversity,but also the center of origin and diversity of crop genetic diversity.It is not only a transitional region among East Asia continent,South Asian sub-continent and Indo-China Peninsula,but also a core integration area of Chinese culture,Indian culture and Mid-south Peninsula culture which all merge with the local culture.[Conclusion] Yunnan is one common sphere where the origin of human evolution is closely related to the origin of rice evolution.

Effect of Climate Change on Wetland Ecological Environment in Heihe River Basin in Recent 51 Years

[Objective] The effect of climate change on wetland ecological environment in Heihe River basin was researched.[Method] Based on meteorological data from six meteorological stations in Heihe River basin from 1959 to 2009,the effect of climate change on wetland ecological environment in Heihe River basin in recent 51 years was studied by means of statistical method.[Result] Temperature and precipitation in Heihe River basin showed obvious increasing trend in recent 51 years,especially in recent 20 years;climate change made Heihe River basin more and more dry,specially in mountain area;wetland ecological environment closely related to climate responded to climate change,such as groundwater level rise,wetland area decrease,agriculture planting structure change,meteorological disaster increase,destroyed biodiversity and so on.[Conclusion] Our study had important significance for the protection and development of wetland resources.

Application of "3S" Technology in Ecological Environment Protection Area of Qinling

On the basis of briefly introduction of the status of eco-environmental protection work in Qinling,remote sensing,geographic information systems,global positioning system (short for '3S' technology) in the construction of eco-environmental protection information in Qinling,especially in the application of eco-environmental investigation,eco-environmental monitoring,environmental quality evaluation,were described in this study.Meanwhile,the existing problems and countermeasures for the application '3S' technology in the eco-environmental protection were also summarized.

Environmental Risks in China and Their Countermeasures

The 13th Five-year Plan period （2016-2020） is a crucial period for environmental protection in China and represents the last chance for the achievement of the environmental objective under the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round manner. During this period of time, China＇ s environment is confronted with the following major risks： risks of environmental quality, human health, ecological security, balanced regional development and international influence. The overall conclusion is that the tendencies of changing eco-environment are complex, problems remain outstanding, and some risks have abated while others have intensified with possible improvements in the future. Future prospects mainly depend on the intensity of actions taken. It is suggested that environmental protection strategy of＂overall optimization＂ be adopted for the 13th Five-year Plan period, i.e. environmental protection requirements should be incorporated into political, economic, social and cultural spheres, so that these areas with major influence on the natural environment will improve and transform towards an environmentally friendly direction and ultimately help achieve the objective of improving eco-environment and people＇s welfare. In order to fundamentally reverse mainstream understanding on environmental protection, it is suggested to define the ＂contradiction between environmental pressures arising from growing economic development and China ＇ s limited and fragile environmental capacity＂ as a major contradiction of Chinese society.

Design and Applications of Land Resources and Ecological Environment Information System: A Case Study of Zigui County in the Three Gorges Area of China

The design and applications of a land information system built upon ARC/INFO and ArcView are presented. The proposed system not only maintains all the advantages of the more conventional implementations but also enhances them in the following ways: 1) the application program interfaces (API) are used to transmit data and messages among different parts of the system; 2) the integrated system can support studies on land evaluations and ecological analyses by efficient management of attribute and spatial data and 3) correspondingly, spatial records and attributive records are linked by the same identifiers (ID). A case study application in Zigui County of the Three Gorges Area in China demonstrates that the system could employ land-use maps and land property data to predicate and analyze the land utilization changes in the past, present and future. The ecological environment analysis can be carried out with the data of land, economics and terrain map used, showing that the system can be widely applied, especially to survey land and environment resources in the countryside area.

Ecological environment quality evaluation of the Sahel region in Africa based on remote sensing ecological index

Long-term monitoring of the ecological environment changes is helpful for the protection of the ecological environment.Based on the ecological environment of the Sahel region in Africa,we established a remote sensing ecological index(RSEI)model for this region by combining dryness,moisture,greenness,and desertification indicators.Using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)data in Google Earth Engine(GEE)platform,this study analyzed the ecological environment quality of the Sahel region during the period of 2001-2020.We used liner regression and fluctuation analysis methods to study the trend and fluctuation of RSEI,and utilized the stepwise regression approach to analyze the contribution of each indicator to the RSEI.Further,the correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between RSEI and precipitation,and Hurst index was applied to evaluate the change trend of RSEI in the future.The results show that RSEI of the Sahel region exhibited spatial heterogeneity.Specifically,it exhibited a decrease in gradient from south to north of the Sahel region.Moreover,RSEI in parts of the Sahel region presented non-zonal features.Different land-cover types demonstrated different RSEI values and changing trends.We found that RSEI and precipitation were positively correlated,suggesting that precipitation is the controlling factor of RSEI.The areas where RSEI values presented an increasing trend were slightly less than the areas where RSEI values presented a decreasing trend.In the Sahel region,the areas with the ecological environment characterized by continuous deterioration and continuous improvement accounted for 44.02%and 28.29%of the total study area,respectively,and the areas in which the ecological environment was changing from improvement to deterioration and from deterioration to improvement accounted for 12.42%and 15.26%of the whole area,respectively.In the face of the current ecological environment and future change trends of RSEI in the Sahel region,the research results provide a reference for the construction of the"Green Great Wall"(GGW)ecological environment project in Africa.

Coordination of Urbanization and Water Ecological Environment in Shayinghe River Basin,China

During the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China,urban agglomeration in river basin areas raises the problems of over-use of water resources and pollution of the water environment.Related research in China has mainly focused on the conflicts among economic growth,urban expansion and water resource shortages within admin-istrative boundaries.However,water environments are much more dependent on their physical boundaries than their administrative boundaries.Consistent with the nature of water environment,this study aims at analyzing coordination relationships between urban development and water environment changes within physical river basin boundaries.We chose the Shayinghe River Basin,China,as our case study area which is facing serious challenges related to water en-vironment protection.Then we classified 35 county-level administrative units into upstream,midstream and down-stream regions based on their physical characteristics;analyzed the coordination degree of urban agglomeration using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method;and constructed cooperative models using the Linear Programming (LP function) to simulate four scenarios of the coordination relationship be-tween urban population increase and water environment protection based on existing water resources and water pollu-tion data.The results show that the present coordinative situation in Shayinghe River Basin is not sustainable.In gen-eral,more than 50% administrative units are in the bad coordinative situation.In particular,the downstream region is under worse condition than the upstream and midstream regions.Cooperative models in scenario analyses indicate that the population scale set in existing urban master plannings is not coordinated with the water environment protection.To reach the goal of regional sustainable development,the total population needs to be controlled such that it will re-main at 4.5×10 7 or below by 2020 given the capacity of water environment.

Quantitative prediction of mining subsidence and its impact on the environment

This study is focused on the prediction of mining subsidence and its impact on the environment in the Hongqi mining area. The study was carried out by means of a probability integral model based, in first instance based on field surveys and the analysis of data collected from this area. Isolines of mining sub- sidence were then drawn and the impact caused by mining subsidence on the environment was analyzed quantitatively by spatial analysis with Geographic Information System （GIS）. The results indicate that the subsidence area of the first working-mine can be as large as 2.54 km2, the maximum subsidence is 3440 mrn which will cause 1524 houses to be relocated. The entire subsidence area of the mine can reach 8.09 km2, with a maximum subsidence of 3590 ram. Under these circumstances the value of the loss of ecosystem services Will reach 5.371 million Yuan and the cost of relocating buildings will increase to 6.858 million Yuan.

Changes of landscape pattern and its influence on environment in Dongling District，Shenyang City，China

Dongling District of Shenyang City is an ecotone between city and countryside. Human disturbance causes serious changes of the landscape pattern studed by using indices of landscape pattern: proportion in land cover types,average area and number of patches,fractal dimension of patches,indices of diversity, dominance and contagion and index of human disturbance.There are many changes of the landscape pattern of Dongling District for the last 30 years.The landscape pattern is breaking, the diversity is increasing and the dominance is decreasing.There are different fractal dimension and contagion in distinct geomorphological unit.The changes of landscape pattern bring some beneficial results but causes deterioration of ecological environment.

Integrated controlling technique of ecological environment in Shendong Mining Area

To enclose the interactive relation between the underground mining with suitable protection for surface ecological environments and surface prevention of ecological environments adapting to mining disturbing was researched and developed core of this technique. There are three aspects of controlling ecological environments, to dispose and renew before exploitation, to protect surface ecological environments in the exploitative process and to repair and build up after exploitation. Based on the moving law of overburden strata in shallow seam, the surface subsidence law and the growth law of vegetation in subsidence mine area, the integrated controlling technique has been developed synthetically by methods of theoretic analysis, laboratory simulation, numerical calculation, commercial test etc.. It includes the key techniques of aquifer-protective mining, filtering and purging of mine water through goaf, preventing and extinguishing fire in shallow seam no-rock roadway layout and waste disposal in underground, frame-building ecological functional sphere before exploitation, frame-building the ecological cycle using system after mining and so on.

Environmental and ecological water requirement of river system: a case study of Haihe-Luanhe river system

In order to reduce the environmental and ecological problems induced by water resources development and utilization, this paper proposes a concept of environmental and ecological water requirement. It is defined as the minimum water amount to be consumed by the natural water bodies to conserve its environmental and ecological functions. Based on the definition, the methods on calculating the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement are determined. In the case study on Haihe-Luanhe river system, the water requirement is divided into three parts, i.e., the basic in-stream flow, water requirement for sediment transfer and water consumption by evaporation of the lakes or everglades. The results of the calculation show that the environmental and ecological water requirement in the river system is about 124×108 m3, including 57×108 m3 for basic in-stream flow, 63×108 m3 for sediment transfer and 4×108 m3 for net evaporation loss of lakes. The total amount of environmental and ecological water requirement accounts for 54% of the amount of runoff (228×108 m3). However, it should be realized that the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement must be more than that we have calculated. According to this result, we consider that the rational utilization rate of the runoff in the river systems must not be more than 40%. Since the current utilization rate of the river system, which is over 80%, has been far beyond the limitation, the problems of environment and ecology are quite serious. It is imperative to control and adjust water development and utilization to eliminate the existing problems and to avoid the potential ecological or environmental crisis.